How do you cope with moving to the US?

[Ortolan 381]

Think of it as a new adventure and try not to compare everything you see/do/hear with your old home back in Bavaria. It will be an experience that will make your life so much richer, just for having experienced a different culture, different climate, different everything. Your home country will always be a part of you, it's what's made you the person you are today.

It might really be interesting for you to write a diary or journal of your experiences: What you see that's different, how you react to the strangeness and different situations. You could have the beginning of an e-book for fellow immigrants.

[rjm_cmyk 75]

This comparison thing will happen - it always does as this process is all about *change*. Good news is if you want home comforts (and they're always food) you can generally get them either locally/nearest big city or online. They do make a difference so spend some time hunting them out.

My USC wife is actually British and when she moved here nearly 20 years ago Skype,Whatsapp, fast internet , iPlayer (or the German equivalent) were just not happening. Now I can keep in touch with friends in the UK and send them photos while I'm driving to Tahoe and they can reply to me in real time from a pub in Yorkshire. That immediacy does make a difference.

But fundamentally it's about building a new life in the US with your partner while acknowledging your home country when you can and when you want to. I can see the forecast for the UK today is heat and rain - never a nice combo. Here ? sunshine and dry heat as it has been since March :-)

[VOL 425]

Hi all.

I am getting closer and closer to my final Visa Interview. And I am already anxious and nervous about moving to the USA. I am from Bavaria, Germany. Very traditional, from a small village. Ive got my life here, a job, house, ive got 2 horses and a horse paddock. Ive got a nice garden. And I am giving that all up to be with the woman I love who lives in Phoenix Arizona. Sure I know I love her and she loves me.

Sure I know I want to be with her. Sure I think life in America offers much. But it is the act of relocation, the final weeks before leaving, leaving everything behind, while moving into the big unknown... the southwestern Desert is of course like a different planet for a southern bavarian like me. I leave my family, the environment, the austrian Alps where I go hiking and fishing a lot, etc.

Its hard. I feel Anxiety. I am nervous. I feel this pressure on my shoulders. How do you cope with that, how did you cope with that? What kind of advice can you possibly give?

Thanks all.

If I was in your shoes it would be hard for me to give that up, Sound pretty cool.

I would try to maintain your place for a couple of years, if the marriage don't work out, you can get a quickie divorce and move back home. I say keep your options open.

Good Luck.....

[rjm_cmyk 75]

Nice.... (British sarcasm)

Edited July 12, 2014 by rjm_cmyk